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HIS MOTHER’S 
PRAYERS 

•t'* 

By CHARLES M. SHELDON 


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CHICAGO 

AdvoLfice Publishing CompOLfiy 
1903 






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HIS MOTHER’S 
PRAYERS 


By 

CHARLES M. SHELDON, 

14 

AUTHOR OF 

“la His Steps,” “John King’s Question Class,” “Edward 
Blake,” “Born To Serve,” etc. 




Chicago: 

advance publishing CO., 

215 Madison Street. 

1903. 




THE LieRAtiir or- 

CONGREGS, 

"v'rfO Ctypfi-s Rfceiveo 


■■'T 


1903 


CnnvniOMT FffTBV 

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oLAfts ^yyo, f!a 

f -r 

J COPY B. 


COPTKIGHT, 1903 
nr 

CHARLES M. SHELDON 


HIS MOTHER’S PRAYERS 


'M SICK of the old farm and everything about 
it,” said Andrew ^liner, as he came into the 
little kitchen of the farm house one evening 
and set a pail of milk down on the table. 

His mother, who was washing dishes at the kitchen 
sink, turned a pale, worn, anxious face towards the boy. 

^‘'What’s gone wrong now?” 

^^Kverything. We don’t have anything fit to do with. 
It’s jiist slave all day to make a living and we’re no bet- 
ter off than when Father died. I don’t see the use. I 
want to quit it. Mother, and go to town. Let’s sell this 
old farm and go to town to live. 

‘^And who’d buy the old farm and pay anything for 
it if we put it up for sale?” asked an older boy, coming 
in at that moment and putting another pail of milk down 
on the table. ‘^The Cranes have had their farm on the 
market two years now and no buyers. If we put it up to 
auction we couldn’t get a song for it. Talk a little sense.” 

‘‘Talk a little yourself,” exclaimed Andrew passionate- 
ly. “It’s what you always say whenever I suggest doing 
something to better ourselves. You may be willing to 
slave all your life for a lot of good-for-nothing cattle 
and hogs; but I don’t intend — ” 



4 


His MOTHER’S PRAYERS. 


get out! You’re always talking about slaving; 
but I notice you always let me lift the heaviest end. You 
didn’t do your share of the milking tonight.” 
did too! You’re always — 

^^Boys! Boys!” Mrs. Miner spoke with great agitation. 
‘^It’s dreadful for you to quarrel so. You will kill me if 
you don’t stop it!” She sat down suddenly and put her 
thin fingers over her face. The tears trickled through 
upon her hands and the boys were silent. After a mo- 
ment the older one emptied his milk into a couple of 
pans, picked up his pail, and went out. 

Andrew stood irresolutely by the table. 

^T’m sorry. Mother.” He went over by her side and 
spoke as if he was ashamed a little. ^^Rod nags me all 
day. He complains if I stop at the end of a furrow to 
take breath. He’s always at me for one thing or another 
And I hate the whole business. Mother, I could earn, 
something in town, and you could get a girl to help ini 
the work. Jim Walker went to Colby last winter and he’s 
in a hardware store there getting thirty-five a month, 
and he hasn’t had any more training for it than I have. 
He says he thinks he can get me a place in Mansfield’s 
grocery at twenty-five to start with, and I’d sooner work 
a year at that than keep on pegging away at this old farm, 
where we never get ahead any.” 

Mrs. Miner was drying her tears on her apron. 

“But, Andy, you’re my baby. What could you do alone 
in the town? You ain’t big enough.” 

“Why, Mother! I’m no baby any longer; I’m eighteen, 
and I weigh a hundred and forty-five, and I know as 
much as Jim Walker any day. I can’t stand it on the 


HIS MOTHER’S PRAYERS. 


6 


farm any longer. We never have any fun, and we’re 
nothing hut clodhoppers anyhow.” 

He flung himself down moodily in a kitchen chair, and 
his mother got up and resumed her dishwashing. An- 
drew was not looking, or he would have seen a tear fall 
from his mother’s eyes into the dishwater. Her thin 
hands trembled as she took the dishes out and began 
wiping them. She was trembling so violently that one 
of the heavy plates slipped from her grasp, fell with a 
crash upon the floor, and broke into half a dozen pieces. 

Andrew jumped to his feet and exclaimed, “Why, Moth- 
er I what’s the matter? Are you sick? Here I You 
sit down and let me finish the dishes. You are not well.” 

The boy insisted on her going into the other room and 
lying down on a couch there, while he finished the dishes. 
While he was at work the older boy, Kod, came in with 
another pail of milk. 

“Where’s Mother?” he asked briefly. 

“In the sitting room.” 

Hod strained the milk and then went in where hi» 
mother was. 

Andrew could hear them talking; at first in low tones 
so that he could not catch the words. At last he heard 
his brother say, 

“Oh, well. Mother, if Andrew has got his mind fixed 
on going to town, might as well let him go. He’s been 
of no use on the farm for more than a year. He takes 
no interest in the work, and I can get along about as well 
without him around.” 

Andrew could not hear the mother’s reply; but frofij 


6 


HIS MOTHER’S PRAYERS. 


the tone of Rod’s next remark he inferred that she had 
given a feeble consent. 

^^He won’t need much of an outfit to start on. If 
he gets the position at Mansfield’s it will just about keep 
him in hoard, lodging, and clothes; but won’t leave him 
any margin for foolishness.” 

Andrew finished the dishes and scalded out the milk 
pails, and when he came into the room where his mother 
was Rod had gone up stairs. 

'^Rod thinks you might as well go, if you want to, 
Andy,” she said feebly. "'But it doesn’t seem to me as if 
I could spare you.” 

For the first time the boy seemed to have a little re- 
morse. 

“I’ll stay. Mother! I won’t go.” 

“No, you won’t be easy till you’ve gone to live there. 
I wouldn’t care if it wVn’t for the temptations.” 

“But there are plenty of temptations in the country, 
Mother, just as much as in the city.” The boy spoke 
irritably, and his mother shrank back a little. “I ought 
to be able to stand up like a man.” 

“But you’re not a man yet, Andy,” his mother said, 
with a faint smile. 

"‘I will be pretty soon,” he muttered, as he walked 
irresolutely up and down. 

They talked together for an hour, and at the end of 
that time Mrs. Miner seemed reconciled to the plan of 
Andrew’s leaving the farm for Colby. Andrew noted 
her weariness, and suddenly exclaimed, 

“You’re all tired out. Mother! You must go to bed. 
Qall me if you are ill in the night, won’t you?” 


HIS MOTHER’S PRAYERS. 


'^Yes, Andy; good night.” 

^^Good night. Mother.” 

Andrew went up and put his arms around her shoulder 
and kissed her. It was evidently an unusual act, for she 
caught his arms and drew him nearer. 

He seemed asharned and drew hack. 

^'Good night, Mother,” he said again. 

^Xlood night, Andy,” she replied, and went at once into 
her room. 

Andy’s room was down stairs next to his mother’s. He 
went into it and at once went to bed and to sleep. 

When he awoke he thought at first that it was morn- 
ing; but after a moment he heard the old clock striking 
eleven. It was a most unusual hour for him to be awake, 
and he felt nervous and irritable. Then, as he lay there 
after the clock had ceased striking, he heard a voice 
in the next room. The partition was very thin, and he 
could not help hearing the voice and the words: 

^‘0 Lord’^ — the voice rose in a tone that made Andrew 
wonder, because it did not sound like his mothers voice 
at all — "'0 Lord! be merciful to me. The boy! I don’t 
want him to leave me! It’s lonesome out here on this 
prairie which you have made to lie under the stars so 
silent and lost. Three of my pretty ones gone!” (An- 
drew’s mind as he lay listening traveled out to the little 
cottonwood grove west of the house, where he had helped 
his mother and Eod dig three little graves for two broth- 
ers and a sister, all victims in one day of diphtheria be- 
fore a doctor could reach them from Colby.) ^'And then 
Jason, and now my baby. I cannot bear it! 0 give me 
a vision of comfort! I need it so! Have I been wicked 


8 


HIS MOTHER’S PRAYERS. 


beyond measure, 0 Lord, that I am punished more than 
others? Janet and Elizabeth were such pretty children! 
How sweet they looked in their coffins! They smiled at 
us. But why, 0 Lord, did you pick them out of our gar- 
den, when there are so many other gardens to pick from? 
Did you need them more than I did, you who have all 
the world for your own? Could you not spare me my 
treasures? Oh, I am desolate! And now my boy! He 
does not love me. 0 God! When I drew him towards 
me tonight he shrank away! And I nursed him through 
peril and in midnight weariness. I pillowed his baby 
head on my bosom for fear you would take him from me. 
0 Lord! are not my burdens heavy to bear? Is not 
my cross almost equal to yours? For you had the in- 
finite, divine nature to support you while I am only weak, 
trembling, human! What am I saying? Forgive me, Son 
of God, I did not mean to blaspheme. But my soul is 
in the dark. Will you not take care of my boy when he 
leaves me? You have three of mine to play with. Will 
you not send an angel to guard my boy from evil? Sure- 
ly you can spare one angel out of all the hosts of them 
that do what you tell them to. 0 God, spare my boy! 
0 God, don’t let him perish! 0 God, make him love me! 
0 God, don’t let him die as his father did! 0 God — 

Andrew could not endure any more. Every word 
stabbed him. He felt vaguely that his mother’s reason 
was being shaken. A terror for the future took hold of 
him as he sprang out of bed and went into the sitting 
room and knocked trembling on his mother’s door. 

The voice ceased at once, but Andrew heard sobs. 


MIS MOTMER'S prayers. 


'^Mother! Mother! are you ill? Can I do anything for 
you?’^ 

There was silence a moment; then Mrs. Miner answered 
in her natural tone, ^‘No, Andy. Was I talking in my 
sleep? I am sorry if I woke you.” 

'^Can I do anything for you, Mother?” 

^^No, dear boy. I will go to sleep. I am nohin need 
of anything.” 

Andrew hesitated. His soul was still agitated by what 
he had heard. In the darkness he felt his heart beating 
heavily. 

^‘You don’t doubt my love for you, do you. Mother?” 
His voice trembled. 

^^Ho, Andy, I never doubted it,” the reply came quietly. 
^^Come and kiss me, and I will go to sleep, and not dis- 
turb you any more.” 

Andrew went in and kneeled down by the bed and kissed 
his mother tenderly. Then as he stroked her thin cheek 
with his fingers he said, 

^^Don’t worry about me. Mother. Pll go to Colby and 
become a rich merchant, and take you away from this 
lonesome place, and make you a beautiful home, and you 
won’t have to slave any more.” 

'T believe you will, Andy. I believe you will. Your 
old mother is not good for much. But you will not for- 
get her, will you Andy?” 

‘^YVhy, of course not. Mother!” Andy said, as he rose 
and went back into his own room. ^^Good night, and 
pleasant dreams, Mother.” 

^^Good night, Andy.” 

Next morning Mrs. Miner did not show any signs of 


10 


HIS MOTHER’S PRAYERS. 


unusual mental disturbance, to Andrew’s great relief. 
He did not say a word about the night’s experience, and 
did not tell her or Rod what he had heard. 

In two weeks the boy had seoured the clerkship in the 
grocery store at Colby, and one morning Rod drove him 
over. There were tears in Andrew’s eyes as he kissed 
his mother good-bye. 

^'Don’t cry. Mother. I’ll send for you before long. Rod 
can get married and run the farm, if he wants to, and you 
and I will live in town.” 

Mrs. Miner waited till Rod had gone out with a bundle 
to put in the wagon. Then she flung her arms about 
Andrew’s neck and kissed him passionately. 

^T’ll pray for you, Andy, every day and every night.” 

^‘Don’t, Mother! Don’t!” Andrew said, stammeringly. 
‘^Don’t!” 

^^What! Not pray! But I must. I shall!” 

“Well, well, Mother; I meant, don’t worry. I’ll be 
good to you. I won’t forget.” 

His mother stood watching the wagon until it disap- 
peared over a knoll, and then went back into the house. 
After the morning work she went out to the little cotton- 
wood grove where the three small graves and one large 
one were, and when Rod came back late in the afternoon 
he could not find his mother anywhere. When he called 
her, she answered him. He went out to the graves and 
found her sitting there talking to herself. Without say- 
ing anything, he took her hand and led her, unresisting, 
back into the house. 

The first months of Andrew’s stay in Colby he wrote 
regularly twice a week to his mother. Then the letters 


HIS MOTHER’S PRAYERS. 


11 


dropped off to onoe a week. In three months he was 
writing only occasionally. Rod had driven into town 
two or three times and brought back word that Andrew 
seemed to be doing well. He was steady, and his em- 
ployers were satisfied with him. 

Mrs. Miner had been grieving over the failure of let- 
ters. 

^^Don’t worry. Mother. Andy is all right. He has to 
work long hours. Grocers’ clerks have longer hours than 
any others. He never was much of a hand to write, any- 
way.” 

That was three months after Andrew had gone to 
Colby. Another month had gone by and during that 
time no word came out to the farm about the boy. Rodj 
was very busy, and could not spare time to go into town. 

One evening, after the chores were done, and Mrs. Min- 
er and Rod were in the sitting room, a knock at the door 
startled them. When Rod opened the door he was greet- 
ed by the nearest neighbor who lived four miles away. 

^‘1 drove over this evening, Mrs. Miner, with some 
news I thought you ought to hear,” the man said slowly. 

^^Come in,” said Rod briefly. Mrs. Miner rose, trem- 
bling, her hands shaking so that she dropped the ball of 
yarn she had been holding. 

^Ts it about Andy?” she asked. 

“Yes,” said the man, “I thought you ought to know — 
I — He stopped awkwardly, and his rough fingers 
grasped the side of his chair with a nervous grip, as he 
faced the mother and son in that lonely prairie house, 
where the dim lamp on the table showed their anxious 
faces. The mother bent forward with a trembling appeal 


12 


HIS MOTHER’S PRAYERS. 


that seemed like the countenance of heavy sorrows an- 
ticipatory of a Mow she must receive, but from which 
her frail spirit could not recover. 

*^Is Andy dead? Don’t tell me he is dead!” She put 
out her thin hands in a gesture of appeal towards the 
neighbor. 

'^Xo — he ain’t dead,” the man answered slowly. ^^But - 
3mu know Jim Walker. Jim’s been at Kellogg’s now for 
two years. His father came in yesterday and told us he 
heard Jim had taken to drinking. And he was going in 
company with your boy. Bud Koble saw ’em both in at 
^Jake’s Place’ two weeks ago playing billiards.” 

^^Is that all?” asked Bod, after a pause. His mother 
was sitting bent over, her hands over her face and sob- 
bing softly. 

The neighbor shuffled his feet awkwardly. 

^^Koble said both boys had been drinking some. I 
thought you ought to know. ’Taint easy to bring bad 
news. I wish to God the whole liquor business was in 
Hell!” the man added with an energy that was unex- 
pected, as his dull eyes glowed with the fire of some past 
experience, in which the drink devil had had some part. 
And can you name a single family anywhere that has not 
at some time felt through relation, friend, or acquaintance, 
the blasting touch of this world-wide pestilence? 

'Tt seems to me the business is there already,” replied 
Rod with bitterness. His mother still continued her sob- 
bing, but she was not violent. The man rose to go. 

^Tm sorry, Mrs. Miner. Wish I could do something 
for you.” 

'^You can’t do nothing, you, nor God, nor nobody,” she 


HIS MOTHER’S PRAYERS. 


13 


said in a muffled voice, without rising from her position. 

The neighbor did not even say good night. He simply 
walked out, and Eod could hear his wagon rumble away 
across the prairie. 

^^Come, Mother!’’ Eod spoke in a tone that sounded 
rough and hard. ^^You go to bed. It’s no use to cry 
over Andy. He’s chosen his own course. Let him suffer 
for it. You nor I ain’t to blame.” 

His mother raised her head timidly and touched the 
boy on the arm. 

"Eod, won’t you go into town tomorrow and see Andy?” 

"What good will that do?” 

"But won’t you, Eod? Tell him he’s killing me. And 
he promised. Tell him about his father.” 

"He knows about Father already.” 

"Ho, no, he don’t, Eod!” The mother spoke with shrill 
earnestness. "He thinks Father was taken ill in Colby 
when we sent him in for the doctor. Eemember, Eod, 
Andy was only nine years old then. Won’t you go, Eod?” 

"I’ll go if you want me to, just to please you. But I 
know it won’t do no good. Andy’s got Father’s blood 
in him. Nothing I can do nor you neither can keep 
Andy from drink now he’s begun.” 

"But maybe God can!” Mrs. Miner almost shrieked it. 

"I doubt it,” Eod answered bitterly. "I don’t believe 
God cares. If he does, why don’t he strike Jake Lawson 
dead?” 

"Eod, you must not talk so. God is love. If he ain’t 
love we might as well all die and done with it.” 

Eod did not answer. His moody spirit, crushed down 
under the stress of the lonesome life of hard toil he had 


14 


HIS MOTHER’S PRAYERS. 


known since a small child on the prairie farm, had little 
faith in a power which seemed to his narrow and bitter 
experience to he more relentless force than fatherly com- 
passion. When he went to bed that night he had prom- 
ised his mother again that he would go into Colby on the 
morrow, but he had no faith whatever that he could in- 
fluence his brother, or prevail on him to break the habit 
of drinking now that he had begun it. 

Since Andrew had left home. Rod had slept down stairs 
next to his mother’s room. This night he wakened and 
lay there wondering as he heard the clock in the sitting 
room strike twelve. Se was a sound sleeper and his 
waking was not natural. As he tried to sleep again, a 
voice in his mother’s room startled him. It was deep 
and strong, unwavering, and hard in its metallic rhythm. 
It set his senses at once on the alert, and a fear tugged at 
his heart as he listened. 

^^0 God! do you care anything for your children like 
me? If so, why have you made this wide, lonesome prai- 
rie, and made me live on it? If you love me, why have 
you killed my husband and my three pretty little ones? 
It must be cold and dark for them out there in the grove 
nights! But, 0 God! if you really care, why don’t you 
save my boy Andy? He is my baby, now my others are 
gone. I would save him if I could; but I’m not God. 
Won’t you save him? He’s young yet. Isn’t he worth 
saving? Hobody don’t care for him but me, but they 
ain’t nursed him and cared for him after hard days’ works 
the way I have. If you want to love anything the best 
way is to suffer for it. And I’ve suffered for that boy. 
I’ve sat up nights by his crib, when I was so tired I 


HIS MOTHER’S PRAYERS. 


15 


couldn’t keep awake without burning my arm with a 
knitting needle heated over the lamp. 0 God! why do 
you let your children suffer so? We must be pretty wicked 
all these years to get all this punishment. But it seems 
to me sometimes as if the wrong people are punished. 
Why don’t you punish Jake Lawson some? He’s making 
money, and he seems happy. Why should my three lit- 
tle ones die because their father — 0 God! don’t let Andy 
go to hell. Save him from hell, 0 God! Send me there 
in his place. Only I want to see my little ones again. They 
are with you, ain’t they? They ain’t in the ground, are 
they? Tell me, God, they ain’t in the ground! They 
were just beginning to play. They were such good com- 
pany for me when their father and the boys were at 
work. And our nearest neighbor four miles away. 0 
God! I am lonesome. I’ve no one to play with. And 
now you’re going to send Andy to hell. And it seems 
only last night I heard him say, 

^Now I lay me down to sleep 
I pray the Lord my soul to keep — 

^^Dear Lord! if you keep track of all the prayers that’s 
said, won’t you look up the number of times he said that 
prayer, and if he goes bad now won’t you credit him with 
his baby prayers, so much in his favor? 0 Lord don’t let 
him die forever! 0 .God! save his soul! 0 God — ” 

As in Andrew’s case, Eod could bear no more. He 
tlirew a blanket around him and went out into the sit- 
ting room and knocked at his mother’ s door. 

''Mother! .Mother! Are you hi? Do you want any- 
thing?” 


lo 


HIS MOTHER’S PRAYERS. 


The voice instantly ceased, and after a moment Eod 
opened the door and went in. 

^^Are you ill. Mother?” 

^^ 0 ,” his mother spoke in her natural tone, hut she 
was sobbing softly. 

^^There, don’t cry, Mother. Fll go into town in the 
morning, and I’m sure Andy will straighten out. He’s 
prdbably learned a lesson by this time.” 

'T)o you think he will? Do you, Rod?” 

^^es. Mother. Don’t worry. Gro to sleep now.” 

‘‘Did I Waken you, Eod? I sometimes talk in my sleep.” 

'^eli, well. Mother!” Eod replied evasively. "^Don’t 
worry. Go to sleep and forget all about Andy.” 

‘T can’t forget about him even in my sleep. I dreamt 
about him tonight. 0 Rod! do you think he’s in danger?” 
She asked it trembling all over as she sat up. Eod could 
see by the dim light her strained, thin face, ghostlike, 
appealing to him. The sight irritated him, because it 
stirred memories of the past he wanted to forget. 

^rN'o, Mother!” he answered roughly. ^^Lie down and 
sleep. I tell you I’ll go in and see Andy in the morning.” 

Mrs. Miner lay back submissively, and Eod started to 
go out. At the door he turned and said with a show of 
kindness, 

^Tf you feel afraid or ill call me. Mother. I’ll leave 
the door open. Good night.” 

^^Good night. Rod,” she said quietly enough; but the 
boy thought he could hear her sobbing again as he went 
back into his room. 

In the morning he said nothing about the event of the 


HIS MOTHER’S PRAYERS. 


17 


night, and' about ten o’clock he harnessed up and started 
for Colby. 

^‘^Don’t worr}^, Mother/’ he said as he drove away. 

M’ll try not to, Eod. But you’ll be sure to tell Andy 
I love him, won’t you? Don’t be hard with him, will 
you, Eod?” 

Eod did not answer. He wished afterwards that he 
had, as at a turn in the section road he saw his mother 
standing in the doorway still looking at him. 

Half way to Colby a part of his harness broke, and 
it was afternoon before he had succeeded in mending it 
so as to start on. "When within five miles of town he 
overtook a neighbor who was stuck in a slough with a 
load of hay. By the time he had helped him out and 
had hitched into his own wagon again it was nearly five 
o’clock. He reached Colby about six, and drove at once 
to the store where Andy had been employed. 

^^Is Andrew Miner here?” he asked one of the clerks 
who was near the door. 

^^Miner, Miner? Oh you mean Andy. He hasn’t been 
vrorking here for two weeks. The old man fired him be- 
cause — ” The clerk made a movement as if drinking 
out of a bottle. Eod asked him if he knew where Andy 
boarded. 

^^No, I don’t. Might try Mrs. Wycoff’s.” 

Eod drove up to Mrs. Wycoff’s; but she knew nothing 
of Andy Miner. 

By this time it was getting dark, and Eod drove the 
horses to a livery stable foreseeing a possible night in 
Colby. After getting supper at a restaurant, he started 
out to find his brother. 


18 


HIS MOTHER’S PRAYERS. 


It was after seven o’clock, and Kod went at once into 
Jake’s Place. There were only a few men in the bar- 
room, and he passed through into the rear room where 
the card tables were. 

The minute he pushed open the swinging door he saw 
his brother and Jim Walker playing cards at a table 
in one corner. i 

He walked over at once and put his hand on Andy’s 
shoulder. 

The boy looked up and at the first glance Rod saw 
that even that early in the evening Andy had been drink- 
ing. 

‘^Hello, Rod! Where’d you come from?” he said, 
showing a little confusion. 

^^other sent me,” Rod answered briefly. ^^Come out 
of here. I want to talk with you.” 

^^Let’s finish the game first. ^^We’ve only just begun. 
Your deal, Jim.” 

^^NTo, you don’t,” Rod said roughly, and he leaned over 
and put his big hand on the cards. ^^You come right 
out. I want a talk with you and I don’t want to wait.- 
Mother will be anxious about my return. I’ve got a four 
hours’ drive.” 

^Y'ou leave us alone!” Andrew exclaimed angrily, 
trying to pull the cards out from under Rod’s hand. Rod’s 
dark face grew darker. 

^^Andy, you drop that and come out of here or I’ll drag 
you out by the hair. Jim Walker, I call you a miserable 
cur for getting my brother into this hole. If it wasn’t 
for Andy here on my hands, I’d give you another smashing 
same’s you got when I caught you trying to brand some 


HIS MOTHER’S PRAYERS. 


19 


of our calves down by Major’s Creek. No, you don’t!” 
Kod anticipated Jim Walker’s movement to get his gun, 
and with a lightning grasp that did not seem possible 
in one ordinarily so slow he seized Walker’s wrist and 
twisted it in a vise-like grip. Half a dozen young men 
entered the room at that moment. Rod let go of Walker 
and turned to Andy. 

^^Come out!’^ he said savagely, and Andy did not dare 
disobey. He rose and went out with Rod who backed 
towards the door with his eyes on the wrathful face of 
Jim Walker. 

Out on the street Rod said abruptly, 

^Tlave you got a room anywhere?” 

^^Yes,” Andy said sullenly. 

^^We’ll go to it,” Rod said briefly. 

When they were inside a dingy little room in a cheap 
boarding house. Rod sat down and faced his brother who 
was almost sober now, and whose face showed a mingling 
of fear, shame and anger. 

^^Mother and I got word of your drinking last night. 
Mother lay awake half the night over it. You’ve lost your 
job in the store. What are you doing? Anything?” 

^Tve got a job in the hotel,” Andy said sullenly. 

^^Must be a fine job,” Rod said with contempt. ^^You 
seem to be in Jake Lawson’s employ most of the time. 
How much does he give you?” 

^TTou go — ” Andrew swore. Even Rod was startled 
at the oath. He had never heard Andy on the farm swear, 
even under great provocation. 

He looked more carefully at his brother’s face. How 
swiftly the devil brands his cattle! The boy’s face showed 


20 


HIS MOTHER’S PRAYERS. 


already the unmistakable signs of dissipation, the coarsen- 
ing and roughening of fiber and tissue. 

^^You are killing Mother, Andy,” said Rod in a low 
tone. He related in a few words the experience of the 
night. Andrew seemed moved by it. 

think Mother’s mind is affected by all the trouble 
she has had, Andy.” Rod spoke more softly. ^^She 
prayed as if she were another person. The tones of her 
voice were hard and unfeeling. It made me creep to lis- 
ten to her. I’ve had to get her into the house three times 
from the graves since you went away.” 

^^lother has never got over that time,” Andy spoke 
thoughtfully. 

^^Ho, and do you know, Andy, what makes that such 
a dreadful experience for Mother? It’s not only the loss 
of the children Mother grieves over. You were only a 
little fellow at the time, and we never told you. But 
as soon as Elizabeth came down Mother feared diphtheria 
and sent Father right into town for a doctor. He never 
came back until the day after and then it was too late. 
The doctor couldn’t save them then. And do you know 
where Father was all that time, Andy?” Rod got up and 
his rough face twitched nervously under the stress of his 
passion. “He was in Jake Lawson’s Place, drinking and 
gambling while our little sisters were choking to death 
on the farm, and Mother was going wild over it. Is it 
any wonder Mother’s mind is weak after all that? 

“And the constant lonesomeness and lack of neighbors 
and variety to take her thought off the death of the babies 
and Father. And now you go and tug at Mother’s heart 
as if you didn’t care, and help to make Jake Lawson rich 


HIS MOTHER’S PRAYERS. 


21 


by buying his beer and whiskey — the man who sold the 
stui? that killed Father and the childi :n, and — ” 

^^Don’t! Don’t! Rod! I didn’t know! I’ll quit and 
behave myself!” cried Andy, breaking down and putting 
his face in his hands while Rod walked up and down like 
some wild beast. 

haven’t any faith in you, Andy, and might as well 
say so.” Rod spoke with bitterness as he walked up and 
down past his brother. “You’ve got Father’s blood in you. 
You’d drink and gamble if you knew Mother was going 
to die the next minute. She told me to tell you that she 
loved you. You know she does well enough. But you 
don’t love her any. If you did, you wouldn’t do as you 
have been doing.” 

do love her, Rod! I’ll quit drinking and playing 
and behave myself.” 

^TTou say you will! Undress and get into bed! I’ve 
got to go home tonight or Mother will go wild. But I’ve 
no faith in your promises. The minute I start for home 
you’ll make a bee line for Jake’s Place,” continued Rod. 

won’t! I tell you I won’t!” replied Andrew, but he 
spoke quietly and immediately obeyed his brother and 
went to bed. Rod walked moodily up and down. 

I’ll tell Mother how I found you, and your promise. 
If you break it I hope Father and the babies will haunt 
your dreams as long as you live.” 

He turned to go out and Andrew said feebly, ^^Won’t 
you tell Mother I am sorry. Rod?” 

H will if you act sorry for a month,” replied Rod. He 
blew out the lamp and went away without any farther 


22 


HIS MOTHER’S PRAYERS. 


good night, and immediately hitched up and started for 
home. 

He had been gone about half an hour when Andrew 
heard a pebble strike his window. Hje drew the clothes 
up over his head and kept still. Another pebble struck 
the window a little harder. Then a shower of small stones. 
Still he made no answer. After a moment he heard a 
step coming up stairs. He remembered the door was not 
locked and started up in bed to lock it, but before he 
could do so it opened and some one came in. 

^Ts that you, Jim?’^ he asked. . 

^^Yes. Came up to see how you were.” Walker struck 
a match, lighted the lamp and sat down. 

all right,” said Andrew sullenly. ^^Why can’t you 
let me alone?” 

^^You left in the middle of the game. I don’t call that 
square.” 

^^We can finish — 

^^Tonight,” said Walker coolly. ‘'But it’s too cold here. 
Get up and let’s go over to Jake’s and have it out. You 
owe me a game. It’s mean to quit when I was losing.” 

“I can’t, it’s too late. I’ve promised Rod — I’ve prom- 
ised — 

“Oh well you don’t need to play more than one game.” 

“No, I won’t do it, Jim. Go away and leave me alone.” 

In reply Jim Walker took a whiskey bottle out of his 
pocket and going over to the little washstand took up a 
tumbler and poured out a drink. He came back to the 
table which was near the bed and set the glass down. The 
smell of the liquor began to pervade the little room. An- 
dy’s eyes began to glow with an unearthly luster and he 

l.o^O. 


HIS MOTHBR^S PRAYERS. 


23 


sat up in bed. Jim tossed off the whiskey and poured 
out some more. 

^^What makes you keep your room so cold? Have a nip 
just to warm you up?” 

said Andy hut he eyed the liquor greedily. 

Walker drank again, and again filled up the glass. 

^^It was a mean trick to cheat me out of the game. And 
after all the times Fve stood by you to leave me in the 
lurch was a mean, dirty trick.” He swore and drank 
again, setting the glass down on the edge of the table 
nearest the bed. Then he suddenly got up and walked 
over to the window and looked out. 

^Tt’s a cold night. Looks as if a storm was coming up.” 

He stood with his back to Andy but he knew what was 
happening. Andy had reached out his arm, taken a hasty 
drink of the whiskey, and set the glass down again. 

Jim turned around and walked back to the table. 

*^Andy, do you think it was just the thing to cheat me 
out of that game?” 

'T never cheated!” 

^^You did. You left before it was through. It would 
only be fair to finish. You needn’t play any more if you 
don’t care. If you’ll come over to Jake’s I’ll set up the 
drinks.” 

^‘We’ll just finish the game?” Andy said feebly. 

^^Yes, that’s all. It’s not late. Only nine o’clock. 
Come on, that’s a good fellow. Remember how I’ve pulled 
you out of a hole many a time.” 

Andy got up and dressed and in twenty minutes was 
seated with Jim Walker at one of the tables in the wine 
room at Jake’s Place, his brain reeling, his nerves on fire 


24 


HIS MOTHER’S PRAYERS. 


with whiskey which he had begun to drink recldessly as 
soon as the cards w^ere served. 

The drunkard’s chance at cards seemed to favor him. 
Game after game saw him winner. The stake was not 
large, hut before eleven o’clock Walker had lost all his 
own money and several small sums he had borrowed of 
acquaintances. 

At last in a spasm of intruding conscience, Andy threw 
down the cards and declared he would play no more. He 
swept up his earnings and poured them into his coat 
pocket staggering to his feet as he did so. Walker rose 
with an oath and tried to detain him. 

^Tlay it out! You’ve no right to quit now!” 

'^Eight to quit any time. Wrong not to quit,” Andy 
said, and before Walker could stop him he had gone 
around another table and out of the side door. 

Walker follow'ed still swearing. ^Tll even up with you 
for that brother of yours,” he said following Andy up 
the street. 

Andy turned and shook his fist at him. They were 
both in the middle of the street and both continued to 
stagger along cursing each other. As they came opposite 
the lilethodist church, Andy stopped and waited for Walk- 
er to come up. 

‘^Leave following me!” he exclaimed. 

won’t! You’ve got my money. You — ^you cheated!” 

"I didn’t! You lie!” Andy replied in a drunken rage. 

He stooped over to pick up. a stone in the street and 
Walker fired at him three times in succession. Andy 
reeled, took one step towards Walker, and fell face down- 
wards in the dirt Walker threw his revolver into the 


HIS MOTHER’S PRAYERS. 


25 


gutter, and then turned and ran back in the direction 
of the saloon. Andy lay still in the place where he had 
fallen, and one more crime was added to the thousands 
upon thousands that drink and the saloon have helped 
to produce since alcohol was first brewed by man out of 
God’s bread stuff. 

It was nearly midnight when Rod reached home. He 
had driven as fast as he dared, thinking all the time of 
the brother he had left and his Mother who was waiting 
for him. 

She came to the door as he drove up, and before he 
had stopped the horses she called out. 

‘^Tell me. Rod! Is Andy all right? Is he safe?” 

'‘^Yes, yes, Mother. I left him in bed in his room. He 
promised to give up the drink and the cards and — ” 

Rod drove out to the barn, put up the team and came 
back to the house where he finished telling his mother 
the story of the evening. 

Mrs. Miner, who had spent a long day and evening 
in a fever of apprehension, was quieted by his narrative. 

'^Then you do think he will grow up to be a good man, 
don’t you. Rod? He will learn a lesson from it, won’t 
he?” 

hope so.” Rod spoke slowly. He did not tell his 
mother what he had said to Andy. 

Mrs. Miner went to bed and to sleep. In the morning 
Rod heard her singing as she was washing the breakfast 
dishes. 

She had not done that for months. The boy went up to 
her and kissed her, a very unusual thing for him. 

'Tm glad you feel so well, Mother,” he said. 


26 


HIS MOTHER'S PRAYERS. 


on account of Andy/^ she said. ^^He’s my baby, 
you know. But you’re both good boys to me.” 

going to work at the fence down in the two mile 
swale this morning, Mother, so I may not get back at 
noon. But I’ll come between twelve and one sometime.” 

"All right, Bod. Don’t break your back over those 
heavy posts. You don’t ever have any rest.” 

"I don’t need any, Mother. One of these days when we 
get the farm paid for, I mean to see that you have a rest 
for the remainder of your days.” 

His mother smiled at him, and noticed his sturdy figure 
as he drove the team out of the barn yard. 

"I’ve got two good boys. Andy’s going to be all right, 
I’m sure,” she said, as she continued to sing at her work. 

About eleven o’clock a man drove up in front of the lit- 
tle farm house, and got down slowly. The horse was 
covered with lather and stood panting with exhaustion. 

Mrs. Miner came to the door. 

"Are you Mrs. Miner?” the man asked. 

"Yes.” 

"I’ve a letter for you.” The man handed it to her 
and avoided her look. 

It was from the Methodist minister and it contained 
news of an accident to Andy. She was asked to go with 
the messenger hack to Colby at once. 

Mrs. Miner read the letter slowly, and raised her eye to 
the man. 

"Tell me the truth about this — accident,” she exclaimed, 
with a calmness that astonished him. 

"He was shot,” the man said after a silence, and again 
he looked down. 


HIS MOTHER’S PRAYERS. 


27 


'‘And killed?’^ she asked, taking a step towards him. 

The man looked np at her. 

"He was killed, wasnT he?’’ she said gently. 

The man choked down something. 

"Yes, Ma’am, he was. I’m awful sorry. It must be a 
dreadful blow to — 

"Three of my little ones gone, and now Andy. But he 
was safe — ” she began to reel on her feet, and the man 
hastily took hold of her and helped her into the house 
and upon the couch. 

"Where’s your other son?” he asked. "You need him 
now.” 

She told him quite coherently, and immediately began 
to talk about her three pretty little ones. The man hesi- 
tated, but finally went out and drove as fast as his horse 
could go down to the two mile swale. He found Eod 
there and at once told him the news of Andy’s death, and 
the w'ay his mother had taken it. 

Rod got into the buggy at once and came back to the 
house. His mother was not there. He ran out of the 
house and over to the cottonwood grove where the four 
graves were. 

He found his mother seated on his father’s grave, with 
her back to the other three, making some lines on the 
ground. As Rod laid his hand on her shoulder she said 
with a smile, "Yes, there is room for another right here. 
I have been measuring. See, Rod. One, two, three, four, 
five, six feet this way, and one, two, three feet this way. 
Only, it’s cold here, when it storms. Couldn’t we, couldn’t 
we. Rod, take ’em into the house when it rains? It’s so 
cold out here.” 


28 


HIS MOTHER’S PRAYERS. 


'^Come, Mother/’ Rod spoke between his clenched teeth 
to shut down fierce sobs; ^^come, you are not well. Come 
into the house.” 

^^No! I will not come! I am going to stay here until 
they bring him to me. I am going to dig his grave! 
There is no one who can dig his grave like me. I made 
all his baby clothes.” 

She leaned over and began to dig in the ground with 
the cottonwood stake she had in her hand. When Rod 
attempted to lead her away she turned upon him fiercely 
and struck at him. He put his powerful arms about her 
and carried her into the house, and she shrieked and bit 
him on the cheek so that the blood ran down his face as 
he laid her on the bed. 

The man went back to Colby alone and that evening 
a doctor came out. Rod had never left his mother’s side. 
The doctor gave no hope. That trembling reason which 
had faltered and fallen on the side of madness during 
those moments when the stricken mother prayed her crazy 
prayer, had now altogether left the throne and what was 
left was a dangerous maniacal power that called for in- 
cessant watchfulness. As soon as the legal steps could 
be taken. Rod placed his mother in the state asylum and 
went back to the lonely farm, a brooding, bitter, hard 
young life, known among the scattered neighbors in that 
township as uncompanionable and silent, the tragedy of 
drink branded into what might otherwise have been one 
of the stalwart, useful children of men. 

In the state asylum there is a woman who every night 
in her padded cell is heard to pray for her baby Andy. 
It is the same prayer of accusation and petition. The at- 


HIS MOTHER’S PRAYERS. 


29 


tendants know it by heart, and pay no more attention to 
it than to the ravings of their other patients. The Metho- 
dist minister who once heard it on a visit to the asylum, 
did not recover from the. effect for weeks, and says it was 
the most pitiable thing he ever listened to. 

J ake Lawson, the saloon man is getting rich. He drives 
one of the best turnouts in Colby. He is putting a large 
addition to his house this summer. Jim Walker got off 
on a plea of self defense, and is one of Lawson’s best cus- 
tomers. And the prayers of widows and mothers all over 
the world still go up to God. Is God dead that he does 
not hear? And are men dead to all love and justice that 
they still license and support the only institution in the 
world which has centuries to its record of producing 
crime, insanity, pauperism, broken hearts, and ruined 
lives? Are they wasted? Make answer. Brothers and 
Sisters. For the blood of these little ones and fhese 
crushed ones cries out to us from the ground. 


Charles M. Sheldon’s Works. 


In His Steps, "fMfonldJesnsDo?’ 
CrncIfiilOE of PMUip Strong. 

RoPert Hardy’s Seven Days, 

TPe Miracle at Marta, ■ 

His BrotPer’s Keeper, 

Richard Brnce, - 
The Twentieth Door, ■ 

John King’s Question Class, 

Edward Blale, 

Malcoin Kirt, - 
Redemption of Freetown, 

Born to Serve, - 
Who KiUed Joe’s Bahy? 

The Wheels of the Machine, 

His Mother’s Prayers, 

How to Sneceed, 

The Reformer, 

The Narrow Hate, 



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Books Worth Reading 


A Matter of Business. W. C. Stiles. 

To Pay the Price. Silas K. Hocking. 

Victoria by Qrapho. (J. A. Adams.) 

Not His Own Master. G. S. Reaney. 

The Beasts of Ephesus. Rev. James Brand, D.D. 
An Elementary Catechism. W. B. Barton, D.D. 
Stepping Heavenward. Elizabeth Prentiss. - 


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Hymns Historically Famous. Nicholas Smith. - $ 1.25 


Congregationalism. Prof. G. N. Boardman, D. D. 80 pages; single 
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